WINSTON-SALEM, N.C. — Real lottery players have done it before —used their relative's birthdays in hopes of winning.
That's what Paul Caudill of Winston-Salem did and the kept playing them until it paid off — literally for the rest of his life.
Caudill said he's been playing those same birthday numbers in the Lucky for Life drawing since it came out.
“I’ve been playing the same numbers every day since the game started,” he said. “The numbers are all different birthdays for people in my family.”
Before realizing he won, Caudill said he thought it was a mistake.
“I figured there must be an error,” he laughed. “I couldn’t sleep the rest of the night.”
He bought his lucky $2 ticket from 1 Stop on West Mountain Street in Kernersville. He won his prize by matching all five white balls in Friday’s drawing.
Caudill became one of two players in North Carolina who matched all five white balls in the drawing. The other ticket came from Charlie’s Tobacco Outlet on Eastchester Drive in High Point.
After recently retiring, Caudill said he already knows what he wants to do with his winnings.
“I can pay my house off now,” he said.
Caudill claimed his prize Monday and had the choice of receiving $25,000 a year for the rest of his life or a $390,000 lump sum. He chose the $390,000 and took home $277,879 after taxes.
Lucky for Life is one of six lottery games in North Carolina where players have the option of buying their tickets through a retail location or Online Play. Lucky for Life drawings are held every night. The odds of winning the $25,000 a year for life prize are 1 in 1.8 million.
Ticket sales from draw games make it possible for the lottery to raise more than $2.5 million a day for education. For details on how $21.8 million raised by the lottery made a difference in Forsyth County last year, visit www.nclottery.com and click on the “Impact” section.
